Purchase With a Side of Protest? New App Reveals Corporate Roots of Common Goods

Buycott is a new app that removes the potential of cognitive dissonance from consumer brand decisions.

Created by 26-year-old Ivan Pardo, it allows you to swipe product barcodes and peruse the product’s corporate family tree before making the decision to purchase it.

If demanding GMO labels is your thing, your choices for breakfast cereal options might be severely limited (Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies, and Froot Loops are all owned by Kellogg’s, who donated to campaigns against proposition 37 not too long ago).

The idea here is for consumers to not only withhold their hard-earned dollars from corporate giants who rally against oh-so-radical ideas like labeling genetically modified food, but to instead purchase products from a competing company who supports it.

And if that doesn’t happen to be your thing, don’t fret: users alone create the campaigns they want to join. Mr. Pardo told Forbes that his goal is not to “push any single point of view with the app” but to allow people’s passion to dictate it’s terms.

Apparently, the tech bugs are still being worked out as demand for the app has skyrocketed. We are eager to test it out—we like the idea of keeping our little money away from Big Money.